Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-05-15

I'll w.
In one big chair at the end Of the room,
hns;ly employed in doing nothing, sat
Tanta (Auut) COetzee, the wife Of Old
Hans n large and weighty woman, who
had evidently once been rather handsome
and on the touches were some h~alf-dozen
Beers, their rifles in their hands or between
their knees.
II struck John as he entered that some
of these did not look best pleased to see
him. and he thought he heard one young
fellow. with a hang-dOg expression OF face,
mutter something about the damned Eng
Iishman, TO his neighbor rather more
loudly than was necessary to convey MS
sentiments. However, old Coetzee came
forward to geet him heartily enough, u
called TO his daughters-two fine girls,
yery smartly dressed for Dutchwomen-to
give the captain a cup Of coffee. Then
Iohn made the rounds after the Boer fash
ion and beginning with the old lady in
the chair, received a Emphatic shake oil
the hand from every single soul IN tne
room. They did not rise-it Is not Gus,
tomary to do sO-they merely extended
their paws, all of them more or less damp,
and uttered the mystic monosyllaole
'Daag.n short for gOOd.day. 1t IS a very
irving ceremony till n gets used to IT.
and John pulled up painting, to be pre-
santed with O cup of coffee that he did not
want, but which it would be u d not to
drink.
''The captain is q rooibaatie,' said the
old lady. AUNT" Coetzee, interrogatlvely,
and vet with the certainty of who states a
fact.
, John signifed that he was.
What does the captain come to the
land for? Is it to spy?'
The whole room listened attentively to
their hOstess's question, and then turned
their heads to listen for the answer.
mo. 1 have come to farm with Siias
Croft"
There was general smile of ~incredulity.
Could a rooibaatje farm? Certainly not.
''lhere are three thousand men in the
British army" ANNOUNCED the old yrouw,
oracularly, and casting a severe glance ut
the wolf in sleeps clothing, the man OF
blood who pretended to farm.
Everybody looked ut John again, n
awaited his answer in dead silence.
'0There are nearly three hundred thous-
and men in the regular British army, and
as many more in the Indian army, anu
twice as many more volunteers, he sald'
in a rather irrit3ted voice.
This statement also was received with
the most ~discOuraging ~incredulity.
ssThere are three thousand men in the
| British army" repeated the old lady, in a
tone Of certainty that was positively crush
ing.
TYah, yah!' chimed in some of the
younger men in chOurS.
There are three thousand men III the
| British army" she repeated, for the third
time. in triumph. "If the captain says
that there are more he lies. 1t is natural
| that he should lie about his own army.
| NV p~randfather's brother was ut Cape
Town i'm the time of Governor Smith, ana
| he saw the whole British army. He counted
them: there were exactly three thousand.
I saw that there are three thousand men IN
the British army
yah. yahr' said the chorus; and John
razed at this terrible person in bland exas-
peratiOn.
GLOW many men do you command in
the British army?' she Intercepted, aiter
u sOlmn pause.
"A hundred" said John, sharply.
"Girl," said the old woman, addressing
one Of her daughters, you have been To
school and can reckon. How many times
does one hundred 90 into three thousand?'
The Young lady addressed giggied con
fusedly, and looked for assistance to u
sardonic Young Boer whom she was going
m marry. who shook his head sadly, IN
dicating thereby that these were mysteries
into which it was not well to pry. Thrown
on her own resources, the young lady
plupved into the receSSes Of an interlcJte
! calculation, in which her fingers played a
considerable part, and finally, with IN AR
| oftriumph, announced thatlt went twenty
xix times exactly.
yah, yahr' said the chorus, 'it goes
t~wenty-six times exactly" =,
The captain" said the Oracular old
lady, who was rapidly driving John mai,
commands a twenty-siXth part OF the
| british army, and he says that he Ome
here TO tienl with Uncle Silas Croft. lie
saws. - she went on, with whitening con-
tempt. that he comes here to farm when
he commands q t~wenty-siXth part OF the
| British army. II is evident that he lies, -
"Yah, yah!r said the chorus.
ct is natural that he should lie!' she
continued; AL Englishmen lie, especially
| the ~rooibaatie Englishman, hut he should
not lie so badly. 1t must yeN the dear
| Lord to hear a man lie so badly, even
though IL be an Englishman and a
rOoibaatje."
At this point John bust rrOnt the house,
and swore frantically to himself as soon as
he got outside; and, really, it is to he
hoped that ne was forgiven, for the prOyoca-
| ton was not small. 1t is not pleasant to
| be universally sat down rs a 'leuSenaar
liar, even rs II Of the very teeoieSt
| order.
In another minute old Hans COetzee
came out and patted him warmly ON the
| shoulder, in a way that seemed to say that,
whatever Others might think OF the insult
| f~ciency of his powers of falSehOOd, he, for
one, quite appreciated them, and an
nounced that it was time 10 be moving.
Accordingly the whole party got into
their carts or on to their shOOtlng-hOrSeS, as
the case might be, and started. Frank
| Muller was, John noticed, Ounted as
usual on his fine black horse. After driv-
ing for more than half an hour along an
indefinite kind of wagon track, the leading
cart, which was old Hans COetzee himself,
a Malay driver, and a cOlored Cape boy,
turned TO the left across the open veldt,
and the Others followed in turn. This
went on for some time, till ut last they
reached the crest or q rise that commanded
a large sweep of open country, and here
Hans halted and held up his hand, whereon
the others halted too. On looking out
over the vast plain before him JOnn dis
covered the reason. About half a mile
beneath them was a great herd of blesbuck
feeding, three hundred or more OF them,
and beyond them again another herd of
some sixty or seventy much larger and
wilder looking animals with white tails.
which John at once recognized rs Wilder
beeste. Nearer to them again dotted about
here and there on the plain, were a couple
of dozen or so of graceful yellow spring
buck.
IN ---. - ..,r ,.,- h,fl yphfnh